May 20, 2014

Lean, delicious, juicy turkey burgers made with zucchini and topped with a summer garden tomato bruschetta topping over a bed of baby arugula – no bun required!

I thought I would share this fabulous turkey burger recipe from the archives for those of you who may not have tried this.

This dish was inspired by a meal my girlfriend ordered during a girl's night out. I always get inspired when I go out to eat, and created this lighter version which turned out delicious. For the turkey burger, I went with my skinny turkey burger recipe I posted a few years back, it's made with shredded zucchini which gives it lots of moisture and great flavor. They are delicate, so I prefer to make them on a skillet instead of the grill.

This is the perfect summer meal for under 300 calories, especially if you have lots of tomatoes in your garden. You can easily make these vegetarian by using a boca burger or veggie burger of your choice. By the way the lovely fork is by For Such A Time Designs. Hope you enjoy!

Combine the red onion, olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Set aside a few minutes while you chop the tomatoes, then place in the bowl. Add the garlic, basil and additional salt and pepper, to taste and mix well and set aside. Toss in the cheese when ready to serve.

Squeeze the excess moisture from the zucchini in a paper towel. In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, shredded zucchini, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Form into 5 equal sized patties about 5 oz each, forming them as flat as possible.

Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, lightly spray with oil. Add the burgers to the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until browned, about 4 minutes, then flip and cook another 4 minutes, careful not to burn.

To serve, arrange 3 slices of tomatoes on each dish, then place 1 cup arugula on top in the center, then top with the burger and finish with the bruschetta (don't forget to add the cheese), serve right away.

This looks so fresh and yummy! I've tried the zucchini turkey burgers and they came out so moist and juicy. I think this time I'll add in a touch of cayenne, jalapeño or siracha to the mix as I like mine with a little kick!

This looks great. I think I am going to replace the bruschetta topping with more of a pico de gallo style topping. My family would like it better with Mexican flavors. I love the idea of serving the burger over arugula.

I'm going to try this with ground chicken instead of turkey because my family prefers that. The kids prefer the texture of the chicken over the turkey. I think I'll also try doing them on our Foreman grill instead of on top of the stove. Thanks for the recipe!

Gina, I made these last night for dinner....So full of flavor, juicy, DELICIOUS!! Only thing I did different was omitted the mozz from the bruschetta and added a little skinny pesto instead. I just could not get over how much FLAVOR the burgers had with so little ingredients! Def a keeper. I froze the burgers I didn't cook, so I'll be having this again this week!

My husband I and made these the other night... I have been eating the leftovers everyday! OMG the burgers are AWESOME! I'm going to do a double batch next time and freeze some so I have back ups! Thanks for all the wonderful recipes!

We had these for dinner last night and loved them! Since there are only two of us we ate two and froze the rest for another night and then I just cut the topping recipe in half. Worked really well. Thanks for another yummy, quick dinner recipe.

This is my first Skinny Taste recipe. Made it tonight and my husband and I LOVED IT! The turkey burger was juicier and tastier than the one I ordered from a restaurant a few days ago. I can't wait to cook-up the leftover patties tomorrow.

Made this last night and it was so good. We ended up having them on buns because we didn't have arugula. My husband and I love our beef so this was a bit outside of our comfort zone but we will definitely be making these again... maybe even this week!

What a freaking incredible recipe!! I am obsessed. I even made it for my super picky boyfriend and he couldn't get enough. He even fought me for the leftovers. I will be making this over and over. Thanks so much for the post!

Tried these tonight, and they were delicious! My husband, who is not a great fan of poultry, thought they were great. I did make some variations to the recipe, however. Instead of putting the mozzarella in the bruschetta, I placed slices on the burgers just after flipping them, and let it start to melt while the other side cooked. Yum! After cooking, I schmeared about a tablespoon of pesto on each burger before topping with the tomato mixture. Double yum! I will DEFINITELY be making these again.

I made this last night and finished the last of it today for lunch and I'm so upset that it's all gone :(. This is such a great weekday meal I was blown away!! Definitely in the rotation from now on- soooooo easy!!!!!

I've made these twice now and they are delicious. The changes that I made were using romaine instead of arugula. I also using dried spices instead of fresh since that is what I have on hand. I've served with brown rice which goes well. The second time I made these I used shredded cheese instead of cubed and it wasn't as good. I would definitely recommend this recipe :)

Great recipe! made it exactly and loved it. Was very healthy and fresh.. i think this would be great with chicken too. and comes together so much faster if you precut the veggies ahead of time.. Thanks again!

These turned out great! I made them for dinner tonight, and used ground chicken instead of turkey. My burgers were just a bit bland, so I think I'll add more spice to them next time. It was hardly noticeable, though, with the bold taste of the bruschetta. Also, we used mesculin mix greens, instead of arugula. I really enjoyed the zucchini in the burgers, too. I thought that was a nice touch. Thanks for posting such great recipes! :o)

Hi Gina! I am SO excited for your cookbook - I've been following your blog for years and I am just so thrilled with all of your success! I already pre-ordered your book on Amazon, but you mentioned that Target version will have exclusive content (and maybe extra recipes?). Would you recommend purchasing that one instead?

I'm sure you can't give out too many details, but just wanted to know if I should switch up where I order from :)

The Target edition will include 4 extra bonus recipes in the book.... I guess if you already preordered on amazon you could cancel that order since it has not shipped and order the target edition instead...

Hi Gina. I love this recipe. It is a great way to sneak in some veggies and it also smells delicious. I have made meatballs with this same recipe (minus the brushetta) and have also made mearloaf (just yesterday actually). It is a big hit in my kitchen and I cant wait to get my cookbook. So excited!!!

So exciting about the target version of the cookbook! One question, will it include all the same recipes as the regular version and then some or will some recipes be swapped out for target exclusive ones?

Loved this Gina! My kids (8 and 10) LOVED this and said it was better than any other burger I've made! Even full fat ones! I didn't top theirs with the bruschetta but rather added sliced fresh mozzarella and sliced fresh tomatoes to theirs and drizzled balsamic vinegar/EVOO over the top. I left off the onions for them. Made my husbands on a bun with bruschetta mixture and mine on salad as stated. Only changes I made was to add crushed red peppers and granulated garlic and onion to the beef mixture. OUTSTANDING!!!

Made this tonight! Yet another AH-mazing dinner! My 9 year old son, aka my picky eater, put the turkey(shhhh-zucchini) burger on wheat bread and said it was the best burger ever!! Everyone else loved the bruschetta and arugula!

Absolutely outstanding! Have made this 3 times now. I always make a double batch to have leftovers for lunch for a few days. I typically skip the mozzarella and just do the tomatoes with the EVOO and balsamic vinegar with smashed garlic on top. LOVE this pairing with arugula!

I made this tonight and it was delicious!! Loved how much flavor the bruschetta provided, and the serving size was just right! Love the idea of making "naked" burgers, no one in my family even missed the bun! I've made so many recipes from your site, and haven't had a bad one yet. Thank you!

I just made the turkey burger and didn't add all of the other stuff. It was really good i normally don't like ground turkey but i couldn't even tell. All the ingredients in the patty helped the taste for me. Will def make again.